


Mirror: Faith

by LadyRavenJade



Series: Mirror Works [2]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: Mirror Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-05
Updated: 2014-04-23
Packaged: 2018-01-18 07:46:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1420195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyRavenJade/pseuds/LadyRavenJade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Religion has always played an important part of Earth's history.<br/>In the Mirror Verse, Father Marlow stands witness to the glory of the Empire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xcourtney_chaoticx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xcourtney_chaoticx/gifts).



> I understand that religion is a very controversial topic, but I just couldn't leave it alone. The idea what you could do with religion in the mirror verse just took over my mind and I wrote this so fast my head started spinning.  
> I want to say that while I am not religious I did not mean this as an insult to anyone. I have twisted religion to fit with this world and I am not saying it is evil in the real world. Nothing said here reflects my personal views.  
> That being said I did use a Christian bible verse that I got off the internet. Deut. 20:13,14 and Deut. 20:16,17 I think I got it word for word that is what it actually said, however please assume the ‘bible’ I have in this story has been retranslated a thousand times by evil people and that they are not using your actual bible to excuse doing terrible things.  
> Ok? Ok I would really like it if you gave me your non offended opinion. Thank you.

If the third most dangerous man in the Empire is a Captain, and the second is an Admiral, what then is the most dangerous kind of man in the Empire?  
Well Father Raymond Birch would tell you that clearly the most dangerous and certainly the most powerful not including he Empire himself was a priest.  
Ah! Religion, such a beautiful concept, isn’t it?  
But let’s not start with that. No we were talking about the power that came with the priesthood. You see all Admirals must have spiritual guidance and Empire in its great wisdom assigns priests to the Admirals.  
Who else could ensure they keep up there moral fiber and of course loyalty to God and The Empire? Of course in this day and age to not acknowledge the two are one and the same were sacrilegious.  
Captains that wished to one day become Admirals did well to keep a religious man on hand and keep him content. There were few things the Empire hated more then traitors and heretics, and the word of even the lowest Chaplin held great weight with the Empire.  
Religious men dedicated there’re lives to the worship and betterment of the Empire and in doing so they gave up all personal ambition.  
The priesthood was the one career where you were chosen for a position or promotion by the grace of the Empire and you could not advance by killing your superior, in fact to kill a religious man for any reason was considered poor taste and could easily be the end of a person’s career.  
If you chose to become a priest you may never move farer then the smallish perish, however the job and life security were almost garneted, not that just anyone was allowed into the sacred order.  
Marlow Birch however, had a rather special place with in the priesthood that he used to his advantage restlessly.  
Once upon a time Priests were made to take a vow of celibacy, but of course that barbaric practice had been abolished. While they were still not permitted to marry or have children Priests were allowed to partake of any of there perish, after all the Empire gave to it’s people both pain and pleasure and priests were the instruments of the Empire.  
Priests were allowed however to chose one child to raise in there footsteps, one child to be molded into a loyal follower and one day spiritual advisor to the people.  
Marlow was that lucky child and his adoptive father, Father Raymond could not be prouder of him.  
Right now Father Raymond was in council with Captain Pike. They were discussing the funeral arrangements for the late Captain Emery. Father Raymond and Captain Pike had a stable alliance and when Captain Pike become Admiral Pike it was well known that Father Raymond would be assigned to him.  
Marlow when he was not neck deep in religious studies took several courses at Starfleet. He could only pray that the glorious Empire would see fit to assign him to an up and coming Starfleet officer so that he might one day see the stars… and of course control the mind, bodies, and souls of a starship to better the Empire and keep its people loyal.  
Marlow waited outside the Captain’s office rereading his favor bible verse and considering several ramifications of it.

_When the Lord thy god hath delivered (a City) into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the sword : but the women, and the little ones , and the cattle, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee. Thou shalt save nothing alive that breatheth; but thou shalt utterly destroy them. Deut. 20:13,14 and Deut. 20:16,17_

Starfleet was the sword of the Empire and how they did smite the heathens in the new worlds they found. How they plundered those places taking what was so obviously given to them. Surely there was no greater purpose any man could hope to-  
“Hi.” The sound startled him and he fond himself jerking his head away from the good book and looking at a blood soaked young man, dripping absolutely everywhere.  
“Hello.” He wrinkled his nose at the mess and held his book closer least the man drip on it.  
“Is Pike in?” The young man leaned against the wall. He was mostly likely injured in some way.  
“He is in a meeting with Father Birch…won’t you sit down?” A priest was above the pity squabbles of lesser mortals and they could afford to be polite to blood covered strangers.  
“Don’t mind if I do. Jim Kirk. What are you reading?” He gave his name abruptly, but Marlow didn’t take offence after all he recognized the name, Jim Kirk. He was the one that engineered the Captains death, certainly a man worth knowing.  
“I am reading the only text truly worth reading.” He said earnestly and showed the man the cover of this book; he then placed it carefully at his side and offered his hand.  
“Marlow Birch, at your service of course.”  
Jim Kirk shook his hand and a fair amount of blood was transfer unto his, luckily he had a handkerchief for just this purpose. The priesthood was often a bloody profession after all.  
“Sorry about the mess.” The man grinned, and Marlow deiced to take a liking to him.  
“Not at all, I’m quite used to it.”  
“Oh? Am I right in assuming you are Father Birch’s apprentices?”  
Marlow couldn’t help the pride he felt, but the truly powerful embraced modestly so he tried not to sound too superior as he confirmed that he was.  
He had a lovely chat with Mr. Kirk. He was smart with a healthy respect for the Empire, knew his scripture and offered several thought provoking insights to the verse he had been studying.  
It was with some disappointment that Father Birch came to collect him and Mr. Kirk had to leave for his meeting with Pike.  
“Hey, Marlow!” His company for the last hour called him as he turned to follow the Father.  
“I’ll be seeing you!” He waved.  
“You as well.” He nodded at him.  
Father Birch raised his eyebrow at him and gave him a cold smile.  
“I see you’ve met one of Pike’s protégés. You approve?”  
“Yes Father, he seemed…a god fearing man…and yet, still strong and confident in himself and his ideas.”  
“Good. That’s how we like our future Captains, you'll need to curb his confidence though. A Captain should learn to rely less on himself and more on their Chaplin.”  
“Sir?”  
“While you will need to finish your academy courses, you are as ready for the priesthood as I can make you without giving you first hand experiences on saving the souls on our fellow men. The academy and Mr. James T. Kirk will be your first assignment Father Marlow. Coagulations.”  
“Th-Thank you Father, it is an honor.”


	2. Atheists

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is short, but I was inspired by Easter and I also wanted to use my favorite OC from in Mirror secrets and this is what came out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning this has some non graphic mention of self mutilation and some ritualistic cannibalism.

Morals and Ethics was one of the first classes Jayden signed up for. It was one of the very few that didn't look like it would run her into the ground physically or mentally. After all everyone knew the standard responses for moral and ethical questions. ‘Live your life for the Empire first, yourself second, and everything else was expendable.’ Simple, easy and it might lead her on the road to some psychological pursuits.   
She wasn’t much for math, science, languages, or anything physical so she was hoping to get into the least bloody of the medical professions; breaking someone mentally without the use of a telepath. Ideally she would simply determine the best methods of torture to make someone submit instead of doing it herself, but she didn't have much hope for that at least not at the beginning.   
Still she loaded her schedule with non mathematical mental pursuits like Cultural Elimination, Basic Tactics, History of The Great Empire, and of course Morals and Ethics. Because she knew she wouldn't survive without something physical she signed up for the dreaded Physical Conditioning class and in a stroke of brilliance she managed to get Intro to First Aid right after, with any lucky she could get her broken bones and torn muscles seen to quickly.  
Alright, she had a schedule, a plan; she would not die... at least not in the first month. Then the priest sat down next to her in Morals and Ethics and she realized that dying might not be so terrible.

Jayden could never really get into religion and faith. Her family was very into it and she had gone to services with them when she was younger. It wasn't the gore that bothered her really, it was volunteering for such things that boggled her mind. She didn't like pain and while yes the Empire and the Emperor were great and all she didn’t really understand how the rituals were entirely necessary.   
It was Easter Sunday when she officially deiced she this just wasn't for her. It wasn't the idea of being baptized like her grandparents wanted her to do, that bothered her. She enjoyed water and was sure being held down until she passed out wouldn't be all that bad. Such a thing was an act of submission and if you thought of it like there really wasn't anything you could do about it then it wasn't that hard of a concept. No what bothered her was the Passover.   
The Passover was in celebration of partaking of the flesh and blood of one's enemies. Of course in the small parish she attended it was not enemies, but volunteers that gave up their blood and flesh for them to eat.  
It might not have been that bad, she had seen the Pasture cut himself before, but this day it was members of the congregation that volunteered, one of which was her grandmother.  
It wasn't the taste of flesh or the smell of blood that shook her so; it was the understanding that she could never do that, volunteer to hurt herself as a symbol for the Empire.   
She could not live her life for the Empire first, and herself second because unlike her grandmother who stood straight and proud as she cared the circles on her arm, Jayden was selfish and she would pick herself even over the Emperor’s very life.

It was with this thought that she became a hectic and while she knew the right words to say and could make her eyes shine with the same conviction as the others, she knew in her heart that she had no faith and no god.  
She distanced herself from her family and by the time the recruitment officer came knocking it had been years since she had gone to a service or spoken to any family that was not her mother who might have been a heretic in her own right, though naturally such things were not spoken of.  
The priest sat down next to her and she felt revulsion, but when he turned to her she smiled, she spoke, she engaged in simpering religious conversation and when he left she vowed she would kill him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would love it if someone commented with something religious they would like to see the mirror verse version of. Doesn't have to be christianity either. It would make sense that the mirror verse would have at least at some point had some version of every religion.

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired to write this as part of my Mirror: Secrets story, but I am considering making this a side story in Father Marlow's point of view so I can continue to find out where religion fits in with this world.  
> I am gifting this story to xcourtney_chaoticx because without reading the series The Chaplain's Log I would not have been inspired to write this.


End file.
